The Complete Guide › Module 3: Hand Rankings & Core Procedures

Poker Hand Rankings, Explained for Dealers

True Poker Dealer · Module 3, Lesson 1

Every poker hand is the best five-card combination you can make — that one rule sits underneath everything else in this lesson. Know the ranking order cold, understand how ties actually get broken, and you can read a showdown instantly instead of hesitating in front of a table that's watching you do it.

The ranking order

From worst to best: high card, pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, and straight flush — with the highest possible straight flush, ace-king-queen-jack-ten of one suit, being the royal flush. Individual card rank runs ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, trey (three), deuce (two), with the ace able to play both high and low for straights (ace-king-queen-jack-ten, or five-four-trey-deuce-ace, are both valid).

Every hand is five cards, and kickers matter

There's no such thing as a four-card poker hand — every hand is exactly five cards, and all five matter when you're comparing two hands that look similar. If two players both have a pair of sixes, you don't stop there: you compare the next-highest card in each hand (the “kicker”), and the next, until one hand is clearly better or they're genuinely tied. The same logic applies all the way up the ranking chart — a high card hand is really just five kickers stacked on top of each other.

Comparing hands within the same category follows the same idea: the higher pair beats the lower pair regardless of kickers; two pair compares the higher pair first (aces and fours beats kings and queens, full stop, before kickers ever matter); three of a kind compares the trips directly; a full house is ranked by its three-of-a-kind portion first, then the pair; four of a kind compares the quads directly; straights and flushes compare their highest card, then work down.

Reading hands by game

In Texas Hold'em, a player can use any combination of their two hole cards and the five community cards — including using all five community cards and none of their own, if that happens to be the best hand on the board.

In Omaha, the rule is stricter and it's the single most common point of confusion for new dealers: a player must use exactly two cards from their hand and exactly three from the board, never more or fewer of either. A player can't use all five community cards the way they could in Hold'em, and they can't use three or four of their own hole cards either — it has to be exactly two and three.

In seven card stud, there are no community cards at all. Every player plays only the seven cards dealt to them individually, choosing their best five from among those seven.

Two rules that shape every hand

“Cards speak” means a player's cards alone entitle them to the pot — not what they said, not what anyone assumed, just what's actually in their hand when it's turned up. And “one player per hand” means exactly that: nobody, dealer included, can help a player read or play their hand. No hints, no pointing out what beats what at the table, no exceptions.